Chapter 40: People with Difficult Nas, Please Don’t Cause Troubles
“...... Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was which Tokugawa again?”
In a classroom in an absolutely normal middle school, currently splayed over a desk is an otherworlder aka summoner apprentice aka middle schooler aka Elte-san.
Elte-san is here because she was unable to escape the law of compulsory education, but actually, due to her status as a summoner apprentice, she’s already received a fair amount of education.
But whereas in the sciences she can apply her previous knowledge here and there, the social studies that she had absolutely no prior knowledge of are torturing her every single day. It’s already to the level where she would really like it if historic generals would just be nad Jirou or Saburou in order. 1
“Are you alright, Elte? By the way, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi is the shogun who was famous for the ridiculous Edicts on Compassion for Living Things law. He’s the son of the third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu. The first half of his rule was great but the latter half was the Edicts that I ntioned just now and also a bunch of other things......” 2
“Oooi, if you dump it all on Elte at once she’s going to overheat.”
Elte-san is currently surrounded by her classmates. Apparently her identity as an otherworlder hasn’t stopped her from safely fitting in with her class.
Incidentally, though the Edicts is famous for being a bad law, at the start it was rely the concept of ‘let’s treat living beings with respect.’ But everyone just ignored him so completely that he got upset about it and sent it out again and again.
It did have the good aspect of forbidding the abandoning of pups, and though the Edictswere imdiately repealed after his death, this ntality still remained.
“In the first place, why is the compulsory education of this country at such a pointlessly high standard? You guys aren’t even going to beco magicians so why would you learn arithtics? What’d you use it for?”
“More like, magicians use arithtics?”
Japan has a thoroughly educational system that is prominent even by global standards. As a result, the Japanese populace boasts an almost 100% literacy rate, a standard that sounds amazing but doesn’t really feel particularly amazing.
Incidentally, Japan’s high literacy has already been a thing since several hundred years ago. Back during the Edo period, the rate was already more than half if you look solely at the commoner class, and more than 90% if you look solely at the nobility.
This was due to Japan’s characteristic system of temple elentary education and the people’s diligent thirst for learning.
While we’re on the topic, it should also be noted that depending on the region, it was the girls who had a higher percentage of school attendance.
It is said that male chauvinism is quite prominent in Japan, but in the commoner class there are actually quite a significant percentage of households where the wife has more power than the husband.
Please don’t say the ‘husbands are great when they’re healthy and not ho’ line. You’re going to make dads all over the country cry. 3
“Sweet things are best when you’re tired. Wanna hit sowhere on the way ho?”
“Ah, sorry. Today Oto-... Adachi-san is coming ho so I have to go back earlier.”
“You were about to call him ‘Otou-san’ again.”
As always, Adachi-kun has not adopted Elte-san, but she’s already so frequently accidentally calling him ‘Otou-san’ that she might as well just give up being conscious about it.
“Why not just honestly call him Otou-san already? Even if you’re not adopted, he’s your backer and guardian, which makes him like a parent figure, right?”
“B-, but won’t it be a bother for him?”
“I think he’d probably be glad instead. Pri Minister Adachi’s wife passed away early, so he doesn’t have children after all.”
“He even made ti to co to Parents’ Day.”
“Uuu......”
Each of the incoming comnts weighing on Elte-san causes her to be at a lost for words. It seems that she herself has also co to consider it about high ti.
“...... Alright, I’ll call him that when I get ho today.”
“Ganbare~”
Elte-san has finally folds, at which her classmates irresponsibly cheer her on.
Thus when Adachi-kun got ho that day, Elte-san said “welco back, Otou-san” but then Adachi-kun just naturally replied “yep, I’m back”. Noticing Linbel-san’s and Graios-san’s smirks, she ended up being the only one rolling in agonizing embarrassnt. 4
Today, too, Japan is at peace.
?
?
?
In a certain small village.
This village that is situated on the border between ldeia Kingdom and Galdeia Kingdom is frequently snatched back and forth between the two countries. While this gives the Village Chief an endless number of headaches, the villagers themselves are more like “oh, our nationality got changed again? OK” and generally just living their lives normally.
That is pretty much the general degree of national identity of those living in a dieval feudalistic society. To put it bluntly, as long as their lives tomorrow are guaranteed, they couldn’t care less which country they belong to.
“Sense~i. The calculations here aren’t correct!”
“Nn-, let take a look.”
And in this village, there is an eccentric teacher brandishing a teacher’s pointer at children.
Her na is Akechi Ryouko-san. She is a Japanese who had sohow wandered into this world and beco this village’s teacher before she had gotten even her bearings.
“Sensei, I’m done with the practice problems!”
“Already? That’s fast.”
“Yep! Cus I also do this at ho. I won’t lose to Eric!”
Among Ryouko-san’s students are so who are actually quite close to being adults.
This is because of the young man Erik who, after learning simple reading and writing and maths from her, managed the unbelievable success of being hired full ti by the rchant firm that he had been working at as a re errand boy.
Though it might sound strange to modern Japanese, the ability to read and write is considered a technical skill in and of itself.
That is why so foreigners who co to Japan and see holess people reading newspapers get confused and wonder why those holess haven’t already been hired by so place.
“It’s really thanks to Sensei that my career aspects have expanded so much.”
“I still rember when I was just an errand boy. I was struggling so hard just to make ends et.”
“We owe Sensei a debt so great that we can never pay it back, really.”
So saying, the students direct their gazes towards Ryouko-san, then slowly descend.
“...... Small as she might be.”
“...... She really is small.”
“...... She probably won’t look out of place if she stands within a crowd of children.”
Indeed, Ryouko-san’s height is even lower than the average for Japanese won. On the other hand, the children of this world have very good physical developnt. If she stands beside such children, she’d just blend in and beco impossible to pick out.
But for the Ryouko-san who is so small that she had been treated as a child even when she was in Japan, the word ‘small’ is absolutely taboo.
“...... Three tis the howork for you three, confird.”
“How could you?!”
“That’s tyranny!!”
Ryouko-san increases their howork in revenge.
Today, too, this otherworld is at peace.
1 Especially in the earlier days, it was common for Japanese sons to be nad Junichirou, Jirou, Saburou (ie. ‘First Son,’ ‘Second Son,’ ‘Third Son’) etc. So Elte-san would prefer if they were all nad that way, instead of whatever other weird nas.
2 The Edicts on Compassion for Living Things was a collection of laws protecting dogs. But this law is now known as a bad law because it reflected how he weighed the lives of dogs over actual people. The population of dogs in Edo (many of which were strays) shot up to the point where it was stinking and spreading disease. (Wikipedia)
3 This is the punchline from a comrcial from 1986, “Teishu genki de rusu ga ii (亭主元気で留守がいい)” that was selling bug repellent, where the product is “Tansu ni Gon” which sounds similar to “Teishu ni Gon (husbands be gone)”. Supposedly the line was ant to appeal to wives, but now the line has beco known almost as an idiom. More on this here,with a video of the actual comrcial too.
4 Okaeri = “welco back” and Tadaima = “I’m back”. These two expressions co in a pair, where the forr is said by whoever is at ho and the latter is said by whoever has just co ho. The order can be switched, no problem.
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